Open Doors weekend day two

Today we started at a building called Blavatnik School of Government. It's part of the overall University and is 'designed to support the School's mission of inspiring and promoting better government around the world'. Probably quite a difficult task. 

Unfortunately it was raining so we didn't get a photo from the outside, and I think that it will be impossible to imagine it's shape from these pictures of the interior. We thought that it was great, and they also had a superb choir singing chamber music.

Next we went to Somerville College which is practically next door. This is quite a modern college and only established in 1879. It was the first Ladies Hall in Oxford and they worked for many years to get Oxford to allow women to take degrees, and finally achieved this in 1920. The most famous former student was Margaret Thatcher. 

Moving on we went to St John's College, just as the rain started to slow down. This is a huge college dating from 1555,and is full of beautiful old buildings. 

To be honest, I am getting confused as to what we saw where as we have seen so much over the weekend. Everything is starting to blur together and what is left is the remembrance of a great day. 

However the next visit was definitely to the Bodleian Library and the Divinity School. 

This was basically one spectacular room that was originally used for lectures, exams and theology discussions. It was built between 1427 and 1483,  and it was extremely busy so we didn't stay long.

Lunch break, then on the road again, starting at Corpus Christi College and this podium with a swan on top is the first thing that you see on the way in. 

Next door is Merton College, and this is a  very good one. It has the usual lovely buildings and a particularly large garden. 

The garden overlooks the water meadows of Christchurch College, and this stone table is in a great position to enjoy the view. 

Both C S Lewis and J R R Tolkien, who were great friends were inspired by the table. Mr Lewis used it as inspiration for the scene in The lion, the witch and the wardrobe, where Aslan the lion was sacrificed. Mr Tolkien didn't use the table in a book, but actually used the table as a writing desk whilst creating Lord of the rings. 

Then on to St Edmunds college, known locally as Teddy's. The high point, quite literally was when we climbed the stairs in the tower to the top of the library. 

Lovely views of the spires of Oxford from the windows. We were actually in the old church which is now converted into the library and has 87 spiral stairs with books on all of the floors. 

Then visits to Harris Manchester College which was nice but not exciting, and Wadham College with its elegant front facade. 

Jesus College - this was founded by Queen Elizabeth the First in 1571. She never visited it but there is a superb portrait of her in the dining room. 

Phew, what a weekend. 

Oxford Open Doors weekend

Darren has a full programme of events for this year's Open Doors weekend. For the last few years we have always been away and missed out on this opportunity to visit lots of places that are not open to the public, but this year we got it right.

We started with Christchurch College - this was extremely popular and Daz booked tickets as soon as they came out. 

We have walked and run past the outside of the college, but this is our first time inside. We started at the spectacular cathedral and were met and blessed by the new Arch Deacon. Shame about the clashing footwear. 

We also met the real Chief Verger and admired the amazing stained glass windows. This one dates from 2023 and shows St Francis, patron saint of the environment and animals. 

Of course, we couldn't miss the Dining Hall where parts of the Harry Potter films were shot. 

After a quick break we moved on to Queen's College with its incredible front gate and statue topped frontage. This college is much smaller than Christchurch while and very grand, it seemed a more homely size. 

A famous student was Rowan Atkinson who did his PhD here and donated money to pay for new chairs in the lovely dining hall. 

Unfortunately I learnt that fact after we took our photos and I don't think that we can see the chairs in this picture. 

Just across the road is University College, the oldest college in Oxford and was founded in 1249.

Every college seems to have its own church, dining hall and quadrangle, and they are all very impressive and very different to each other. Also, they all have incredible stained glass windows in the churches. However, what struck me most in University College's church, was the very unattractive figures of Adam and Eve with the apple tree. 

I nearly forgot, all of the colleges also have fancy libraries, and this one looked very much like a church. 

We asked one of the student volunteers about it and apparently in the 1840's a very rich donor had a statue made of his grandfather Lord Eldon and his brother Lord Stowell. He wanted to donate it to the college, but they said that they had nowhere to put it, so he also then donated enough money to build a library to house the statue. What a result. 

Apparently, the reason that the library resembles a church is because the architect that they chose usually designed churches, so perhaps that was the only style that he could draw. 

Finally, and getting tired by now, our last college of the day was Magdalen. 

Another huge, extremely wealthy college that is next to the river and the punting station. 

Finally, finally, last night we went to an authentic Flamenco show. The performers were all from Seville and the dancer had the most beautiful costumes. 

Amersfoort to Hilversum

 It's very damp and stormy this morning, and the weather forecast says that it will get worse as the day wears on.

Shelving plans for a scenic cycle with lots of detours, we instead decided on a quick dash from one hotel to the next one.

It was only 20 kilometres and we were lucky and arrived in Hilversum only a little bit damp.

We were far too early to check in so we left our bikes and bags and set off to explore the town.

We had only walked a few metres before the rain started to come down. We considered returning to the hotel to sit in the lobby, but then thought no, it's not too bad, let's carry on.

A couple of minutes later the rain turned torrential and we ran towards a brightly coloured shop whose door was open.

We leapt inside, initially thinking that it was a coffee shop as there was a big menu on the wall. Then we looked more closely and saw that it looked more like a bank with a counter and glass barriers that went up to the ceiling.

I said that it might be a vape shop, but a tattooed smiling lady behind the counter said that it was a weed shop. Surprised, we stood there dripping wet and looking around us.

She must have heard our first comments about thinking it was a coffee shop, and realising that we were escaping the rain, she pointed to a coffee machine in the corner and told us to help ourselves.

We stayed a while and examined the merchandise and then didn't want to outstay our welcome so headed back into the deluge.

I ran along the street to what looked another promising shop, but this one turned out to be an opticians.

Standing under their awning I looked across the street and could see the top of another awning. Darren stayed where he was and I ran across the road, and it was third time lucky.

I ran inside, phoned Darren who eventually turned up and we waited out the storm in a giant pub with it's own brewery.

Amersfoort

 We are now in Amersfoort which is a beautiful city that it says on-line, is only 33 minutes from Amsterdam on the fast train. However, it is really peaceful and absolutely beautiful.

It became a city in 1259 when it was a very popular trading city at the junction of two rivers. 

We liked it a lot and wandered around looking at the beautiful old houses, and being surprised at the lack of fellow tourists.

It is also famous for it's Koppelport, the only combined land and river gate still in existence in the Netherlands.

Amersfoort was also the birthplace of Piet Mondrian in 1872 and his house is now a lovely museum.

When he was young he painted landscapes and flowers and these paintings sold quite well. However as he got older and he had moved to Paris he began experimenting with his now very famous and individual style.

The museum does not have any of his modern paintings, but it has a life size mock up of his studio in New York where he moved to just a few years before his death in 1944.

It was very cleverly done and brought it all to life. He was was fascinated with colour and shape and his whole apartment was decorated with large coloured squares and shapes, and he moved them around constantly.

After his death and the apartment was emptied the movers found thousands of tiny pin holes in all of the walls from where he used to hang his squares.

His signature style did not sell well in his lifetime and he used to paint and sell pictures of flowers to earn a living, but just before he died his modern paintings began to be popular.

His signature style has now been copied thousands of times, including famously in the Tour de France by the team La Vie Claire and Bernard Hainault.

I bought a glasses case and Daz bought a pen shaped like a tube of paint.

In the evening we went out for dinner in the main square and left just as they were setting up a big screen to watch a Finnish film with Dutch subtitles.

We instinctively knew it just wasn't for us.